Saturday, February 26, 2011

This photo assignment was week #2 (photos due 2/21.) The week's sermon was about sin entering the world. We had a great conversation that night about temptations and sin. The assignment this week was one of three things: A macro shot, a close-up shot, or a shot where the subject was framed by something else. At first, I set out to snap some photos of weeds, and I got one that was OK. Then, our family was out to breakfast and I snapped this shot just because it was there. I showed it my my friend Sarah, she knew the theme was brokenness, and this was what she thought the photo said: "it tells me of the struggle most of us have to be disciplined about what we eat. There is such irony that most of the things in this world that taste good aren't good for us at all, while healthy food tastes so, well, healthy." I couldn't have said it better myself!

Through my church, I joined a photography class/Bible study that meets once a week for 12 weeks, hosted by my friend Kristin. Kristin's photographs are spectacular, so this was a great opportunity to get some tips from a pro. :) Anyway, each week we are discussing that week's sermon and are getting photography assignments that are related. The Week #1 assignment (due February 14, so I'm a little behind on posting) was Creation, and I thought it would be fun to share the view through my lens.

My subject was this lovely California Poppy. Poppies don't bloom every year, so I consider it a special treat when they pop up, and they had just started showing up the week this was taken. Here's my photo straight out of the camera:

Then I tinkered with it, boosting the color and adding a filter to just the background, which distorted it somewhat. I had hoped my original would have more blurriness, but I need to work on my technique a bit (either that or I'm going to need a different lens.)

Last, but not least, I make a scrapbook page. I probably wouldn't have for this photo, but this scrapbook kit called "Where Poppies Bloom" came out the same weekend that I shot this photo, so it seemed like it was meant to be. :)

Saturday, February 19, 2011

For the record: I did say this wasn't going to be a consecutive 30 days, and seeing as it's been 2 1/2 weeks, I'm way overdue, even taking into account that I expected this to be a slower pace! Oh well. Today's another fun one, nicknames. Since I'm doing these out of order, I'm pretty much doing what sounds good at the moment, which means there is a growing possibility that there will come a point that I'm going to be left with more than a few from the original list that I just don't want to bother with. Because you know that when you put the iPod on shuffle with the intent of listing the first 10 songs that play, you are guaranteed to get a list of the 10 most embarrassing songs ON your iPod. (I'm a Disney fan, so just drop it, OK? You are Part of My World on a voluntary basis.)

So on to the real story for today... my birth certificate says Rebecca, but immediately after committing those 7 letters to the permanent record of my name, my parents started calling me Becky. I went by that until the 5th grade when I changed schools and decided to go by Rebecca. Of course, no one who'd known me since birth could make the switch, so in 9th grade I switched back, only decided it would be "fun" to change the spelling of my name, and I became Bekki. That lasted an even shorter amount of time, and by 11th grade I was back to Rebecca permanently. In other words, I totally deserve it that a couple of my cousins call me "ReBekky," but they are now old enough for me to legally bribe them with beer, and haven't been bugging me with that too much lately.

--- pet peeve ---

Conversations that go like this:

Me: Hi, My name is Rebecca.

Other person: Hi, Rebecca. Do people call you Becky?

Me (politely): No, I prefer Rebecca

Me (in my head): Never. Because if I wanted people to call me that,I would have started this exchange with, "Hi, My name is Becky." SERIOUSLY???!!?

(Does this happen to other people whose names have common nicknames? Drives me bananas!!!!)

--- / end peeve ---

Besides that, I'm sooooooo not a Becky. Really. A few people have a waiver on this one and call me Becky, but they are generally related by blood, or married to someone who is, or otherwise considered to be "practically family.") Ok, so how about a nickname I actually use, and like?

My friends call me Rebo. Not Reba. Rebo. The story behind this one is unusual. My last year of college, I was roommates with four women I'd never really met before we became roommates. Two of them were named Sarah. One of the Sarahs had a boyfriend (who is now her husband,) who decided it would be easier for him to refer to "his" Sarah by a nickname to save himself the kind of phone calls that start with "Hi, is Sarah there?" "Which Sarah?"

He also decided, that since he was a HUGE (really huge; caps are still an understatement here) Star Wars fan, he would give her a 'Star Wars nickname.' Somehow, it was a very short jump until ALL of the roommates had Star Wars nicknames, and mine is "Rebo," short for Max Rebo, who is the alien that kind of looks like a blue elephant that plays the piano in the bar in Return of the Jedi. (I told you it was unusual!) Rebo was an easy Star Wars match, since it was so close to my real name, and believe me when I tell you that some of the other Star Wars nicknames I didn't consider to be quite so desirable.

So anyway, I didn't need a nickname that year, being the only Rebecca at that particular phone number, but it stuck, and it stuck hard. (Unlike my other college nickname, "Webe," which I only hear very rarely these days from a small list of former roommates, but one of these even converted to Rebo.) My friends from that last year of college still call me Rebo, and probably because that was a wonderful year for me, and because those are some of my dearest friends to this day... I love this nickname. Besides that, one of those friends has kids who call me "Auntie Rebo" and that's how my nephew now knows me, too.

So that's the story behind my favorite nickname... and all the unfavorites that came before it.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

30 days has already, as of today, become 29 days, as I've found one thing on the original suggestion list I won't be blogging about. I'll have to try and think of something to replace it to return to the full 30-day count. Also with today, I'm seeing there are several posts that are going to require I go out and take a photo, including what should be Day #6, a photo of something that makes you happy. It will show up eventually, but probably not as #6. Today, I'm making Day 11 the new Day 3.

Day 3: Favorite TV Shows

So a few years ago, one of my friends who is one of those people who are considered "early adopters" of all things techy (particularly if they are from Apple, but that's a side note,) got TiVo. She said, with all sincerity, "TiVo changed my life!" I laughed. Now, that I get to experience DVR, I have to say, I totally get it. Sara, you were right!

But this is about what I watch, not how I watch. Well, kind of. Because really HOW I watch TV influences WHAT I watch. For example, I don't have to pick between The Good Wife and Parenthood, I get to watch them both every week, AND without commercials. Any show with a theme song as great as Parenthood's must be watched. Sometimes, I rewind the theme song to hear it again.

On Sundays, I watch The Amazing Race, Desperate Housewives (guilty pleasure) and Brothers and Sisters. I don't watch a ton of reality TV, although I was rather fascinated by America's Got Talent last summer, and I try not to miss Top Chef. Honeslty, I would NEVER watch AGT if it weren't for DVR. That show was 2-3 hours per week, and had way too much dead time in it. Lots of skipping ahead on that one, and not just the commercials. The Amazing Race is my favorite, though. I can't imagine how fun that would be to race around the world, although I'm really not into eating icky things and sleep deprivation would definitely impair my game.

I'm starting to realize I watch too much TV as I write this list, although to be fair, I'm often in front of the TV with my laptop, checking emails or catching up on whatever while "listening." That is more likely to be true in front of shows like The Middle, Modern Family, The Office and 30 Rock.

Things I don't watch... American Idol. Glee. CSI-Law&Order-NCIS-etc-etc-etc. Seriously. I am so over crime TV. Awards shows. Sports, not even the Olympics much like I did when I was a kid. Outsourced (regrettably.) Survivor, Biggest Loser, The Bachelor (no regrets on any of those.)

Allright, so don't leave me hanging here now that I've confessed all the things I watch. What do YOU watch?